Analysing Debate

Our lecturer invited us to join him in a live debate at Malta University. This was done in order for us to witness and experience a live debate.

Rather than focusing on the subject we were told to observe the way the speakers built an argument and how they debated comparing and contrasting with what we already learned.

The debate topic was Abortion, Ramon Casha in favour of the abortion and Rebecca Kiessling against abortion.

Ramon started by introducing himself and transmitted a solid picture to the audience of what he believed. The problem in Ramon's argument was that it was not backed up properly and rather was based on his thoughts. To have a strong argument it must be backed up from a well-respected data regarding the topic (Podcast Newsletter, 2009). This way you will get the audience attention and maybe support you in your debate.

To be fair he did mention some facts but even when he did, he made the audience question if it was from research or invented, since he never mentioned the source and one time even mentioned a university which he forgot the name of.

On the other hand, Rebecca had a very solid argument and supported her thoughts very well, she convinced the audience into believing in what she was saying. She was very prepared and fluent, but sometimes she became emotionally corrupted since she was a rape victim baby. This led her in almost insulting Ramon in some situations. Insults are not constructive and not helpful and could be a sign of incompetence, anger or frustration.

One should counter an argument by first letting the opposing party know that you appreciate and understand what he is saying. By starting with a middle ground comment you win you opponent’s attention. Then in a decent way start arguing on what you disagree and why you disagree based on research and facts (Hutchinson, 2016).

Referencing

Newsletter, P. (2009). How to Build a Strong Argument. [online] danielmiessler.com. Available at: https://danielmiessler.com/blog/how-to-build-a-strong-argument/#gs.QqT5gM8 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2016].

Hutchinson, B. (2016). Why Using Insults Is Stupid And You Should Disagree. [online] Positive Writer. Available at: http://positivewriter.com/insults/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2016].